Tuesday, June 14, 2016

(BUSINESS
WIRE)-- The Luxembourg Government, the public-law banking institution
“Société Nationale de Crédit et d’Investissement” (SNCI) and U.S.-based
aerospace technology company Planetary Resources have signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) providing the framework for their
cooperation within Luxembourg’s SpaceResources.lu initiative which aims
at the exploration and commercial utilization of resources from Near
Earth Objects (NEOs), such as asteroids.

Within this partnership,
the Government is considering a direct capital investment in the
European headquarters established recently by Planetary Resources in the
Grand Duchy. This public equity position will be taken by the SNCI to
become a minority shareholder. For its part, Planetary Resources is
contributing to the promotion of the local space industry by developing
several key activities exclusively in Luxembourg focused on space
hardware development, space services, applied research and scientific
discovery. The Government will support these activities by providing
funding through R&D grants or other different types of aid
available.

Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the
Economy, Étienne Schneider, stated: “The Government’s partnership with
Planetary Resources is another ambitious public-private joint venture
which demonstrates our strong commitment to support the national space
sector by attracting innovative activities in space resource utilization
and other related areas. The Grand Duchy has a renowned history in
public-private partnerships. We joined the spacefaring nations in 1985
when Luxembourg became one of the founding shareholders of SES, a
landmark for satellite telecommunications and now a world leader in this
sector.”

The MoU paves the way to building up in Luxembourg
research activities and technological capabilities in the fields of
propulsion development, spacecraft launch integration, deep space
communications, asteroid science systems, Earth observation product
development, and mission operations.

“We are excited to begin
working with Luxembourg to develop ground-breaking space technologies
and services,” said Chris Lewicki, President and CEO, Planetary
Resources, Inc. “Luxembourg has a strong history and reputation in
commercial space operations and we are proud to be working with their
government, academia, and industry to further develop the limitless
potential of the space resources market.”